Zim thrash SA by nine wickets, win T20 tri-series

Harare, Jun 25: An incredible win against South Africa by nine wickets gave Zimbabwe the Twenty20 tri-series trophy, after the tournament reached a stunning climax at the Harare Sports Club on Sunday.

The second win against South Africa in the past seven days has put the hosts' confidence at a high, as the series was considered as a warm-up event for the World T20 Championship to be played at Sri Lanka in September.

Chasing 147 to win, Zimbabwe reached the target within 17.1 overs as Hamilton Masakadza (58) and skipper Brendon Taylor (59*) played a fabulous innings, to help the team win the final of the T20 tri-series also featuring Bangladesh.

Brendon Taylor, scored his first half century of the tournament as he raced to 59 off just 41 deliveries, which included 6 boundaries and a six.

Taylor and Masakadza added 118 runs for the second wicket after losing the first wicket while on 32 as Vusi Sibanda was dismissed by Chris Morris in the fourth over while he was on 23.

South Africa on the other hand, looked vulnerable from the start of the tournament, as they had lost a match each against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in the series, which put them in a must win situation against Bangladesh to qualify for the final of the tri-series.

South Africa, riding high on Faf du Plessis' half century (66 off 57 balls) posted 146/6 in 20 overs, they set a target of 147 for the hosts to win, failed to defend their total as Brendon Taylor and Masakadza played brilliantly to ensure that they left no stone unturned during the warm-up tournament for the ICC World T20 and reached the score with 17 balls to spare.

Now, with two wins against South Africa and a win over Bangladesh, Zimbabwe have definitely announced their arrival well ahead of the ICC World T20 which is slated to begin in September.